Blue Xephos
by IAmTheDuganator
Summary: Basically a Yogscast background story. Mostly Xephos in the beginning, but the rest of them come into the stroy later. Contains a lot of Yogscast. Like really a lot. Please be kind, this is my first time on this site, or really writing fanfiction in general. Hop you guys like! Rated teen because Yogscast, and some stuff later.
1. Chapter 1

This is the story of a planet. But not just the planet, the people on it. The people of this planet are highly advanced, both in technology and in magic. In fact, they are one of the few planets where there is not an ongoing war between magic and science. In stead, They are peaceful, prosperous even, and they often send out ships to colonize other planets. On each of the ships there is a basic crew of about ten people, fifty or so colonists, a mage to protect and guide everyone when they get to the planet, and a commander to protect and guide everyone on the trip from the planet and to the new one.

This is the story of two in particular.

~(D)~

The mages are a people who are inherently born with natural magical ability. They look much the same as the other citizens of Cardon, the planet, except for one trait that can set them apart. Where as the normal citizens can have eyes ranging from silver to gold to, very rarely, blue, only a mage can have natural purple eyes, but this trait shows itself even more infrequently than the blue eyed trait.

These mages with purple eyes are revered above all others, and treated with immense respect, for they are said to have powers that no other mage could possibly dream of. They only appear once every few thousand years, and most of the populace have ever set eyes on one of them.

Until now.

A Child of Ender (a nickname given to the purple eyed mages for who knows what reason) named Rythian is living with his parents near where the Academy is, and he shows great potential, even at a young age. He can easily teleport around the house, has a basic grasp of telekinesis, and can even, on occasion, speak to his parents telepathically, a feat which both amuses and irritates his parents.

His parents both know that soon he'll be leaving to go to the Academy to better his training, so they fondly explain to him about his powers, and what they will mean for his future. They call him "Enderborn" and he enjoys the attention, although he doesn't really understand it. Not to soon after that, he begins his first semester at the Academy as the first Ender Child mage that has been seen in 2000 years.

Even with all the attention that the mages give him to try to gain his friendship, and a few of them succeed, he still remembers those two kind parents that sat him down and explained to him.

~(D)~

On this planet there is also a monarchy. The king of the small planet rules with a firm, but powerful, hand. When each of the kings die, the son he has chosen will succeed him and rule. The king at that time was a very kind man with a son named Latrios who was 12 years old. King Thelonius' wife had died a few years ago, and to remind himself of her, Thelonius would enjoy taking walks along the paths in the city where he had met her oh so long ago. However, every once in a while, his wandering feet strayed off the brightly coloured stones of the main roads and in they took him into more unsavory parts of the city.

Thelonius turned the corner of an alley to see boy of around Latrios' own age with slightly taller stature engaged in a fight with a man mountain of near to twice his height and around three times his width. The boy had received numerous injuries including a black eye, a couple of missing teeth, what looked like a broken or sprained ankle, an the front of his shirt was slightly bloodied.

Surprisingly, despite these injuries the boy hadn't given up. He was shouting to the huge man about "picking on someone their own size." It seemed that this young man had jumped in to defend a younger boy who had been getting harassed by the man, and indeed there was a much smaller boy with somewhat fewer injuries off to the side in the crowd being tended to by a woman Thelonius could only assume was his grandmother.. Right before the King intervened, the boy got thrown against the wall of the house bordering the alley, but he got up and started to limp back into the fray before he finally collapsed in exhaustion.

Thelonius rushed in, drawing his broadsword as he did so, and engaged the man. The giant soon surrendered to Thelonius after a short bout of sword-play which proved the King's prowess in the art. The giant sobered up and allowed himself to be escorted away by the guards.

The King was more concerned for the welfare of the young man. After sheathing his sword, he jogged over to the form of the unconscious boy and the crowd surrounding him. After a few hurried reassurances, the crowd allowed the King to carry the limp young man swiftly back to the castle. As he passed them, people stared with curiosity at the tall broad-shouldered running to the castle with a thin unconscious young man in his arms. When Thelonius arrived, he immediately gave orders for a bed in the hospital wing to be prepared for the young man.

~(D)~

An hour or so after they had arrived and the lad had been laid in bed, he awoke to see the hulking form of the King sitting anxiously in the chair beside the bed. The first thing that Thelonius noticed was the pair of dark sapphire blue eyes staring around in wonder. This amazed him, for blue was the rarest of eye colours, second only to the mage's purple.

"What is your name, child?" the King asked kindly after he had explained to the confused young man why he was lying in the hospital wing of the Royal Castle, and not in some back alley of the capital.

"I don't know my name," the boy replied quietly,"When I was a baby, my mom and dad died. I've lived on the streets my whole life." The King was astonished by this statement. This young man had no parents? But...who took care of him then? Were there more children like this young man? More young orphans of the street?

Thelonius floundered awkwardly "Do you have a nickname then?" It seemed important that he find more information about this young man. "I mean, I can't just call you 'young-man-that-was-in-a-street-fight-that-I-brought-to-the-castle'!"

The young man chuckled at this. "I know, but don't worry, I do have a nickname." He adjusted slightly in the covers and scratched at the bandages covered the large scrape across his ribs. "The shop owners and stall keepers of the main market place know me well. Their nickname for me was Blue Xephos," the boy answered, smiling. As he does so, his eyes shine slightly more brightly than they normally do. "I understand the blue part, that bit's about my eyes, but I don't understand the Xephos bit..."

"Ahhh! Well it seems they nicknamed you accurately." Thelonius stands as he speaks and draws back the curtains to reveal the night sky outside glowing with stars. Thelonius pointed up to a cluster of small bright stars that formed the shape of a man. "That is Xephos, the Brave Hero. Your nickname is based off of him."

The boy, Xephos, shifted in his covers to stare up to the stars in amazement. "I've always loved that constellation." He explained,"but now I know why. I just assumed it was because of my interest in space in general." He settled back down in the covers, a contented smile on his lips. "I've always been interested in space, and now I know why."

A fatherly smile crept cautiously across Thelonius' face, and a sudden fleeting thought entered his mind. Could this boy be the son of-? Thelonius opened his mouth to ask the question, but he thought better of it. It couldn't be them. They had died years ago...but it was just possible. He'd have to look into this.

"Well," Thelonius continued after a brief pause,"Based on the fight I witnessed, and somewhat participated in, you seem to be a born warrior. And anyone who stands up for someone in trouble or in need of help is a hero in my books." He stands," so I'd say that the 'Brave Hero' is a very accurate description." He turns and starts to walk away before turning back suddenly and speaks the idea that had been on his mind ever since he had heard that Xephos' parents had died.

"You seem to be a strong enough lad, but you seem more suited for sword-play like myself than any other kind of fighting. How about when you get yourself fixed up, I give a few pointers, son." The hospital wing got eerily quiet, and Xephos simply stared dumbfounded at the hopeful looking king. Then a grin leaped onto his face and his eyes grew larger. "I think I'd like that, sir. I think I'd like that a lot!"

Thelonius grasped the young man's cold hand, and shook it firmly, grinning bashfully all the while. Then he turned and calmly strode out of the room. He closed the door firmly behind him and paused to listen.

"YES!" came the joyful cheer from inside the hospital wing. It was quickly followed by a series of cheers and the noises of bustling nurses coming out of the office to see what was wrong with the pale young man that had not to long ago looked like death itself, but now looked as full of happiness as anyone had ever been.

Thelonius grinned and quietly slipped away to his private chambers, snagging an lawyer on the way to draw up the necessary paperwork.


	2. Chapter 2

This was how the young man, Xephos, came to be living with, and soon adopted by, King Thelonius. Xephos grew up alongside Latrios, and they soon both grew to be young men. As Latrios grew he established connections and did favors for important members of the Cardonian government. He was preparing to be king when the time came, for he believed this to be birthright as the natural son of the king. He was older than Xephos, although Latrios was much shorter and stockier. More suited for wrestling than his taller brother.

Xephos grew and went through the training to be one of the commanders of the starships the country sent out regularly. As soon as he entered the academy, it soon became clear that Xephos was a natural born leader. People, both younger and older than himself, just seemed to trust him. He was very polite and kind to everyone, and he both received and inspired respect into people. Despite all of this, Xephos disliked being in charge, even though people insisted that he take control of the situation. He preferred that his elders, or people with more experience than himself, take charge. Xephos soon graduated the academy as the youngest person ever to do so. The admiral of the fleet said that Xephos was one of the most quick-witted people he had ever had the privilege to meet.

When he graduated, instead of going from politician to politician trying to gain favor as Latrios had, Xephos talked to the people of the capital. He would walk down the streets in a white and blue stripped shirt, brown trousers, and a red overcoat with gold trim. The people would come out of their houses as he passed, and he would talk to them about how their life was going.

While Latrios had spent all of his time gaining favor in the world of politics, Xephos had spent his time conversing and bonding with the people of the country. This made Prince Latrios jealous of his adopted brother. He was ready to snap at any moment, those days. But what happened next was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

You see, King Thelonius was in a bit of a pickle. He was getting very old by this time, and he still hadn't chosen which of his sons would rule after he was gone. Which of his two sons would it be? Would it be Latrios, the eldest, who was strong in the world of politics and in real life? Or, would it be Xephos, the kinder of the two, who was strong in the worlds of science and relations with the citizens? After a long debate with himself, the King believed he had his decision.

~(D)~

On the day of the coronation, Rythian graduated from the School of Magic with flying colors. Literally.

Rythian at the time was a bit younger than the prince at the coronation.

After the graduation, Rythian had been summoned to the headmaster's office. Rythian his preferred method of transportation, teleportation, to get to the levitating towers of the headmaster's office. There the headmaster told Rythian that as a Child of Ender, Rythian had the power, whether he was aware of it or not, to connect his mind to other people's.

This could mean he could see what was happening to the other person. Rythian could even possible affect the physique of the person in question, or he could switch minds with them. This would mean that by visualizing a feature that only that person has, Rythian could change his mind and vice versa. Since this would never have been attempted before, it could have some unforeseen consequences, but if the circumstances were desperate enough, it could be worth it.

"Why are you telling me all of this, sir?" Rythian inquired. He had only barely recovered from the shock of what his new powers could entail, so he had begun asking questions.

"I'm telling you all this because of the King," the headmaster explain as he floated down to stand next to the young mage,"He wants to see you after the coronation. The King, as you well know is a man of science. He wants to, how shall I say, conduct an experiment."

The old man went on to explain to Rythian that as this area of magic was vastly untested, nobody really knew how it worked. Why, most mages didn't even know that it existed! So, the King, as a wise man, wanted to learn as much about everything as he could. That is why Rythian, as the most gifted mage the school had seen in centuries, and also as an Child of End, had been selected to try to conduct this experiment after the coronation.

"But, sir! I don't know how to perform this branch of magic!" Rythian protested,"How will I know what to do?!"

"My dear boy! If you really are on of the Children of the End, and if you can do this, when the time comes you will know what to do," the headmaster consoled the young man cryptically.

~(D)~

Later that day, Rythian stood in the crowd of people below the balcony of the Royal Castle. Everyone began to cheer as King Thelonius stepped out to the balcony. The young prince was wearing black pants and a dark red shirt with black shoulders. There was also a small gold pin like a rounded arrow head on an oval of silver. The uniform of a starship commander.

Xephos stood proudly next to his father. In the ten years since Kin Thelonius had found him in the alley, Xephos had grown to a height of 6' 4"! He had a well trimmed goatee, and his dark brown hair was long enough to flop over his eyes slightly.

"People of Cardon! You have gathered here to witness the crowning of the Prince that will succeed me to rule when I die," Thelonius announced in his booming voice, as he threw his arms wide,"I have chosen! My son, Xephos!" he exclaimed. Xephos stepped forward, a huge grin on his face, and his surrogate father placed the golden crown upon Xephos' head. Xephos looked so regal with it on his head that the entire crowd just held their breath for a second, and then a sound like a volcano erupting issued from them as the crowd began cheering wildly. Rythian knew he would never forget that moment for as long as he lived. If they ever met, he would remember.


	3. Chapter 3

After the coronation, Xephos had walked down and greeted the people in the crowd. He had acted as if it were just a normal day, not like a stuck-up prig. Afterwards, thanked them, and walked back into the courtyard of the castle to go up to his bedroom.

After a moment's consideration, Xephos decided against going back to his room just yet. He had heard that his father was going to conduct one of his 'experiments' tonight, and those generally caused a lot of noise. He decided instead to take stroll through the castle's garden. He had just sat down on one of the stone benches when his brother, Latrios, stepped through the archway to the small garden.

"Brother! There you are! We missed you at the ceremony today. Why were you not there?" Xephos exclaimed, jumping up and walking over to his brother. Xephos failed to notice, however, that Latrios had a clear look of vehemence on his face. (Sadly, despite all of his good traits, Xephos often missed things that are obvious to others, and often when he got focused on something, he became nearly completely oblivious to his surroundings.)

"Yes. Hello, brother," Latrios snarled, striding forward, his fists clenched at his side, Latrios felt that he should have been king because he had spent his entire life preparing for it. Then this guy shows up and steals Latrios' glory! Latrios had decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

As Latrios reached Xephos, he grabbed his brother by the upper arm and slammed him into the castle wall. Even though Xephos was taller and more agile than his older brother, Latrios had the advantages of just overall strength and also weight. (Xephos was tall, but he was a skinny little twig.)

Xephos fell to the ground, but he soon jumped back up again and started trying to reason with his brother. Ironically, Latrios, the politician, was much more quick to anger than Xephos, the commander, who always tried diplomacy before violence. Latrios was beyond reason now, however. He wanted to kill his brother. Latrios grabbed Xephos by the neck and forced him up against the wall.

Latrios held Xephos there with one hand, as Xephos brought his hands up to try to force Latrios away. Latrios pushed his coat aside and pulled out a small dagger which he held pressed against his brother's throat.

"This is the end for you," Latrios cried triumphantly. Xephos knew it: he was quickly running out of oxygen, and he now strength to push his older brother away.

Suddenly, Latrios felt his arm being pushed away! He looked up to see an alarming sight. Xephos' eyes were glowing much brighter than they normally did. They were shining a bright electric blue color and glowed so bright as to be blinding. He somehow found the strength to push Latrios' arm away, and he rushed at Latrios. Xephos brought his fist down hard upon Latrios' head.

"Magic..." Latrios muttered before he lost consciousness. Xephos collapsed soon afterwards. Before giving in to the darkness gathering at the corners of his vision, he saw his father, the King, run into the garden followed closely by a young man with a robe and bright purple eyes. Then a blanket of darkness covered his eyes and he knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

For the second time in his life, Xephos woke up in a bed in the hospital wing, bu this time he knew how he got there. Sort of. As far as he knew, something very odd had happened last night, and he had ended up unconscious in the garden. Past that, he had no idea what had happened. As Xephos was working through his thoughts, his father strolled into the hospital wing.

"Come with me, my son," Thelonius said as he reached Xephos,"I realize this must be extremely confusing for you, but we will explain everything." He beckoned Xephos after him as he turned and left the room.

"We?" Xephos inquired, as he hurried to catch up to Thelonius,"I assume that you are one half of the 'we,' but who is the other?" They walked into the King's study to see the young robed man. Xephos could see now that he was only a little older than the young man.

"Hello, sir. My name is Rythian," the young man exclaimed, standing up and reaching out to shake Xephos' hand,"And, just a word of advice, you might want to take a seat. What I'm about to explain may be a bit startling." The King agreed, and Xephos sat down in one of the arm chairs. Rythian went on to explain that he was the person responsible for what happened last night.

Xephos opened his mouth to form a question, but Rythian cut him off raising a hand. "For you to be able to fully understand it, I'll have to explain it properly. I'll start from when we first began your father's experiment."

"I had been sitting in the armchair that you are sitting in now. The King was sitting across from me, and my head master was at my right. Headmaster instructed me to open my mind and 'listen' for someone to call out. I didn't really understand what he meant, but I did it anyways."

"I closed my eyes and made my mind go blank. I waited like that for about five minutes, and then I heard something. I didn't really hear it though, I more like felt it. But anyways, I heard something. It was your voice, young prince, yelling 'Why?! Latrios! I don't want to go like this!'"

"In my mind's eye it felt like I was running towards your voice as fast as I could, but my physical body wasn't actually moving. It was a very strange sensation. I quickly began to feel as if my head, or possibly someone else's, was getting too crowded. As if someone else was sharing the space in my head?"

"Then I opened my eyes, and the King and the Headmaster yelled. They said that my eyes were glowing and almost fluorescent purple, but everything I could see was tinged bright blue. Also, it appeared that I was no longer in the study. I was pinned against the wall of the garden by my neck. My pulse quickened as I looked up to see Prince Latrios holding me there by the neck with one hand while his other hand held a dagger. It appeared that I had somehow merged my mind with yours, Xephos."

"'Don't give up hope,' I thought to you,'Help is coming,' I then gave Xephos the strength to fight Latrios."

"'Thanks, whoever you are,' I heard Xephos think as he pushed Latrios' arm away,'Now get out of my head, please.' I agreed and it felt like I was backing out of your mind.

"The I blinked, and I was back in the office, but now everything was tinged purple. I stood up and said,"Xephos. Latrios with a dagger. Castle garden. Now," but my voice sounded like mine mixed with yours. With little to no hesitation, Thelonius ran out of the study in the direction of the garden, with me hot on his tail."

"We ran down the stairs to the main courtyard, where we could hear some faint noises of struggles. The King led the way into the main garden in time to see you hit Latrios in the head so hard he crumpled. I saw his mouth moving to say something, but we were too far away to hear. Now that the threat had been averted, the magic decided it wasn't needed. The world stopped being purple, and the blue light went out of your eyes. As soon as your eyes stopped glowing as brightly, you almost immediately collapsed. I guess that the magic was the only thing keeping you on your feet."

"And that is the whole story. You know the rest of it," Rythian finally stopped talking. It had been the longest speech he had made in his whole life.

"Well," Xephos said,"I guess it did all happen then. I mean, I thought, at the time I mean, that I was going insane!"

"I can understand why!" The King interrupted,"First, you feel like you are going to suffocate. Then, you feel like someone else is in your head. Then your vision goes blue. Finally, you have a conversation with someone in your own head, and you knock Latrios unconscious. You have nothing to be ashamed of, son." King Thelonius walked over to Xephos as if to console him.

"Wait!" Xephos exclaimed, jumping up,"Where is Latrios?"

"I haven't seen him since we brought you two up to the hospital wing last ni-Wait! Where are you going?! Come back!" Rythian explained, but it was too late, Xephos had already run out the door.

What neither the King nor Rythian had realized was that Xephos had been in a very fragile state of mind ever since his eyes had first started glowing. Rythian's incursion into Xephos' mind had left it unstable, and since Xephos had knocked Latrios unconscious while in that state the mere mention of his brother's name caused Xephos to loose whatever hold he still had on himself.

The King followed Xephos out the doorway, but sadly for him, Xephos with his long legs ran much faster that the stocky King. Xephos ran first to the hospital wing which was the last thing he heard Rythian say before sprinting out the door. There, the main doctor had said that Latrios had been allowed to leave the hospital wing as his only injury had been a mild concussion.

Xephos then had run to Latrios' bedroom, where King Thelonius finally caught up with his son. The reason for this had simply been that the door was locked, but that wasn't stopping Xephos from pounding on the door and demanding to be let in.

"No! I'm not coming out!" they heard Latrios yell. At this, the King stepped up to the door and ordered Latrios to open the door. "I'm not going to open this door until I get what is rightfully min," Latrios declared.

He was true to his word. Even so, long after the King had left to tend to other things, Xephos had stayed behind, pleading with his brother to open the door. He would've stayed there all night had the King not ordered him to go back to his room.

Years passed, and Xephos had grown to be 27 years old. King Thelonius was now in his 70th year. Latrios had still not left his room, and he had had five years to fester. Rythian was now the most accomplished mage, second only to the headmaster. Rythian was now 25, and was old enough to be sent on a starship to colonize uninhabited planets.

While Xephos had been training in the outside world, becoming the most athletic and best swordsman ever seen, Latrios had been practicing dark magic in his solitude. He had had time to sulk and brood, and he had finally figured out a way to gain power and rule, as was his birthright. He chuckled to himself as he thought about it.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the day if the launch, and Rythian had bid farewell to his friends and family. He and Xephos had grown to be friends, and Xephos had given Rythian a going-away present. It was a small silver dagger with a needle-like blade and black leather handle. There was a dark, bluish-greeninsh round gemstone inlaid in the base of the handle. It seemed familiar somehow.

"I hope we meet again. In another time. On whatever planet you are going to," Xephos said, shaking Rythian's hand in farewell. Rythian somewhat doubted that this would happen, but he didn't want to ruin Xephos' optimistic mood.

Rythian boarded the ship the USS Enterprise, and greeted the people on board. Funny enough, the mage who was so adept at teleporting through space that it felt like second nature by now, got easily sick in moving vehicles of all kinds. Because of this, Rythian had spent most of the flight in his cabin, feeling sorry for himself.

A few hours later, due to the fact that the ship was flying at several times the the speed of light they arrived at their destination: Minecraftia. It was a strange looking place, and everything looked like its edges were sharper than they normally would. This didn't really matter, though, because all the materials still had the same molecular structure: the woodish stuff was still wood, the dirtish stuff was still dirt, and the leafish things were still leaves.

The settlers quickly set up a small encampment of tents, and started to get ready to live there. As Rythian was the only mage, he had his own tent. By the time night had started to fall, there was a campfire, a blacksmith, and every tent had a cot with wool bedding on it from the sheep that were found nearby. Everyone returned to their tents, and tucked themselves in for the night.

~(D)~

Rythian woke suddenly to the sounds of screaming. He burst out of his tent to see utter chaos. Many of the tents were on fire, and the members of the encampment were running in panic away from- no, that couldn't be possible.

There were zombies, with tattered green shirts and blue jeans chasing after the town folk, moaning and grasping with rotting and stinking hands. Skeletal archers could be seen at the tree line and there were firing volley after volley of stone and steel tipped arrows at the colonists. As he watched, Rythian saw several people succumb to the onslaught of the undead. Two or three fell hands, or rather, claws of giant black spiders with glowing red eyes.

Rythian drew out the dagger Xephos had given him, bu before he could run into the battle he heard a hissing noise coming from behind him. Rythian turned to see a terrifying creature. It was what he could only describe as a monster of about 5 feet tall. It was bright green and had four scaly clawed legs and no arms. The most harrowing feature of the creature though, was its face. The eyes were black and soulless, and the mouth had sharp rows of teeth and a forked tongue and it was permanently stuck in a scream, with the corners of its mouth pointing down.

Rythian registered all of this in a second, and by the time he had realized that the beast was expanding, it had exploded! Rythian was blasted away from the fight, and his head hit a tree trunk hard enough to knock him out.

By the time Rythian had awoken, it was daytime and all of the fires had gone out. The entire town had been slaughtered, mercilessly. Rythian had only survived because he'd been blasted away from the battle very early on. Now Rythian was the only person from his planet left on this one. His heart sank at the thought of never being able to return to his home, or see any people.

But a sudden thought shook him out of his gloom. Zombies and skeletons are the remains of dead people! This planet must have been inhabited at one point, maybe it still was! The scans had shown this planet to be uninhabited, but as the planet had been so far away, the scans had been unable to be very accurate.

Heartened by this thought, Rythian decided to explore this land using the magic item he had developed while on Cardon. Rythian had never wanted to travel anywhere due to the fact that he got very sick in any kind of mechanical vehicle. Taking this into account, Rythian had made a ring which he had enchanted to allow the wearer to fly. As he had spent ten years of his life training in a school made up of floating towers, Rythian no longer had any fear of heights.

Rythian slipped on the small silver band onto the middle finger of his right hand. Now he simply had to think about which direction he wanted to go, and he would fly in that direction. The ring worked, Rythian could now travel without feeling sick to his stomach, and he just needed to carry a source of fuel with him. The ring was currently being powered by the coal in the rucksack on his back. He decided that he must make more rings and items to do different things here because his magic seemed to work just as well here, if not better.

For the first time in his life, Rythian set off to travel to try to find civilization. As he had no idea which way he should go, he decided to go north. Rythian rose above the trees , and keeping the rising sun on his left, set off gliding over the tree tops.

Flying was exhilarating, but by midday, there had been no sign of civilization. Rythian landed next to a small lake, with a floor of round gray pebbles. He realized that since he could be here for the rest of his life, he would need a way to heal injuries he got. Rythian decided to make something he had read about in the old books: a life stone. This stone would keep you alive even if you were in the grave.

The reason why Rythian hadn't made it previously, was because to sustain life, you needed something to die. In this new land, Rythian could kill an enemy or animal. Rythian took one of the stones from the lake bed, and carved a rune of life on its surface. He blew softly on it and it began to glow a soft white. He then drilled a hole through the top of it to run a thin, but strong, string through so that he could wear it around his neck.

Rythian rose into the darkening evening air and began scanning the ground for a victim. Suddenly, in a puff of purple light, a tall thin black thing appeared below him. It had a humanoid form with long spindly black arms and legs, and glowing purple eyes in its black skull like face. Its hands and feet were clawed like a dragon's. Rythian decided that this creature would be perfect.

He tried to teleport down, but only succeeded in dropping the few feet to the ground. He landed with a thud, and the creature immediately turned around faster than he could blink. He stood up, drew his silver dagger, and looked up at his quarry. As soon as he laid eyes on its face, it opened mouth and screamed a shrieking high pitched scream and rushed at him, teleporting every few feet.

Rythian raised his dagger quickly, but not before the creature slashed him across his jaw. He gave an involuntary yelp at the sensation of being slashed by icy fire. He then gritted his teeth, and drove his dagger into the purple fire glowing in the back of the creature's head. It gave a haunting wail and then disappeared in a puff of purple light, leaving a blue-green sphere about the size of a baseball in its place. It matched the gem in the base of the dagger in color and texture.

He held up the stone to his eyes to see that it was now glowing bright purple, the same shade as his, and the creature's, eyes. Rythian felt the cuts on his jaw, and felt his jaw to feel scars running from one of his ears across his mouth and to the base of his jaw. He leaned over a small pool of water to see long thin white scars that sharply contrasted with Rythian's dark skin. Before setting off on his travels again, he ripped off the bottom of his cape and carefully tied it around his jaw to cover the scars. He then rose into the air and glided off to the light of the now rising moon.

Rythian flew nonstop for days, weeks even, without stopping. The downside of the life stone had begun to show. It would keep you alive, but if you were doing nothing to help it, i.e. not eating or sleeping, the life stone would use up all of your body's resources first. So Rythian at this point was skin and bones. He was alive, but only just.

The reason why he finally had to land was that he had been falling asleep in midair, only to wake up soon after falling. He landed in a desert, crawled on to land, and almost immediately fell asleep leaning on a sandy dune.

~(D)~

He had a very strange dream about a blonde haired man with radioactive green eyes, a white labcoat, and steampunkesque goggles. The man raised his goggles and crouched down to examine Rythian with both a look of concern and of curiosity on his face.

The man reached into a pocket and pulled out a small gray remote, which he then pushed a button on. A trolley rolled out of the darkness, which the man then lifted Rythian onto. The man pushed another button and the trolley started to roll back the way it came, with the man following close behind. Rythian's strange dream continued to see himself be rolled through the doors of a small house. Then it ended, and faded to black.


	6. Chapter 6

When Rythian awoke, he was surprised to see that he was laying in a bed in a small one room house. He sat up, and immediately put his hand to his face, where he was relieved to find the mask still firmly tied around his face. Rythian looked around the room and saw a blonde haired man standing over a machine holding a wrench in one hand and scratching his head with the other.

Rythian stood and cleared his throat, and the man quickly turned around and said,"Oh, hello! You're probably wondering why you're here, and I'll tell you but first why don't I introduce myself! My name is Lalna," he says all of this very quickly, as though he has had about six cups of coffee, and he reaches out for Rythian's hand to shake.

"Rythian," he said, accepting Lalna's handshake. As a mage, Rythian had learned very early on a translation spell that enabled him to speak every language know to man, and a few extra,"And what kind of name is Lalna? What does it mean?"

The blonde flinched,"Well, what kind of name is Rythian?" Lalna shot back,"And it means LividCoffee, if you must know," Lalna replied blushing fiercely,"And my name isn't the weirdest I've heard. There's a family on the mainland called Peculier! But enough about me, come on and tell me about yourself over breakfast."

"OK," Rythian agreed, and he followed Lalna over to a small wooden table with two chairs next to it. Rythian sat down in the chair facing the door way while Lalna got to work on making breakfast. Soon the smell of pancakes and bacon frying filled the air. Not to long after that, the scientist walked over with two plates piled high with the stuff. Rythian made short work of his, and his stomach rumbled as if to agree with the food tumbling down into it. Now that he was fed, the mage was ready to start asking some questions. "OK, question one. Where the hell am I? As you might have noticed, I'm sort of not from around here."

"Well, I knew that as soon as you opened your eyes last night! Nobody from around here had big purple glowing eyes, we all have green or brown or grey eyes," Lalna explained as he shoveled pancakes into his mouth, "Oh, and you're in Tekkitopia by the way. It's an island off the coast of the mainland." the blonde swallowed a hugs bite of pancake and pointed his fork at the mag,"My turn, where are you from? And since I told you mine, what does your name mean?"

His eyes had been glowing? Now that Rythian thought about it, everyone on Cardon had eyes that glowed slightly. He had just never really noticed it because it was the norm. What could he say about his origins? Best to remain mysterious, and as for what his name meant, he knew what to say. It would be a lie, of course, as "Rythian" didn't mean anything.

"I sadly can't say much about my homeland, but I can tell you what my name means,"Rythian replied hesitatingly,"It means Enderborn."

"Oh! Where have I heard that before? I think I read it in a book, hold on I'll be right back!" Lalna suddenly jumped from the table and began rummaging in the chests lining the walls. Rythian's new friend didn't seem to be very organized, but Lalna didn't seem to mind. He appeared to enjoy needing to rummage in multiple chests to find what he was looking for.

"Here it is," Lalna shuffled back under the weight of a large, leather bound book with gold lettering on it,"the Thauminomicon. Now let me just turn to 'E'," He flipped the thick yellowed pages until he found the page he wanted, and then he ran his finger under the title, Enderman. Rythian was more concerned about the picture, it was the same beast he had attacked a few weeks ago, tall, thin, and black with purple eyes.

"I've always wondered about these things," Lalna explained as he lugged the book back to a chest where he dumped it in to the sound of glass breaking. Lalna jumped and looked in the chest sheepishly, and muttered something about test tubes,"I should really build that sorting system I designed. Anyways, these Endermen. There used to be tons of them, but then they all disappeared one day."

"What happened to them?' Rythian asked, feeling slightly alarmed. Had he killed the last one of this species?

"Well, I've heard that they were aliens from another dimension or planet," Lalna replied, scratching his head and causing his already ruffled hair to get even wilder,"maybe they went home?"

An alien? Rythian couldn't help but wonder where they had come from. He was more concerned though, that these Endermen weren't the only only aliens. He was an alien in the strange world, and there was no way for him to return home. As soon as the Enterprise had dropped them off, it had left to return home.

"I don't think I'll be able to go home," the mage muttered to himself sadly.

"Oh, that's OK!" Lalna said. Rythian jumped, he had thought that he had been speaking too low for anyone to hear. Lalna obviously had abnormally strong hearing, and the mage would have to remember that.

"I can help you build a house here," Lalna offered,"There are plenty of other, er, misfits on this island. You'll fit right in!" Rythian wasn't sure whether to see this as a complement or not, but the scientist seemed sincere.

Rythian accepted, and built a tall tower in the desert nearby. From there, he could see all the other houses, workshops, laboratories, and farms. On an almost daily basis there was the sound of a small to large explosion coming from the direction of Lalna's Lab, or the architect, Sjin's Sjindustry base. Rythian began to think that science just didn't work very well. The things you made with it broke easily, and when machines broke, they would explode and destroy their surroundings. It was even worse when the various scientists decided to use magic, not for the sake of using magic, but to just make their lives easier.

There were flaws in Rythian's new life, he knew that. But it was a life He enjoyed it, and he never forgot about Cardon or his old friend, Xephos. He remembered them, but got mostly past the pain of losing them. This didn't stop him from wondering, from time to time, what was happening at home, however.


	7. Chapter 7

As it so happened, back on Cardon Latrios had perfected his plot to take control of the kingdom. So, to start putting his plan into action, he sent a messenger to invite the old King to his room. It would be the first time in five years that the King, or for that matter anyone, had entered Latrios' room.

It just so happened that when Thelonius got word that Latrios wanted to see him, Xephos was in the room. He immediately wanted to accompany his father to speak to his brother, but sadly for him, Latrios' message had asked for the King to come alone or not at all. Besides, Latrios had locked himself into his room after he had attacked Xephos. If Xephos came along, Latrios might try to finish the job.

So, soon after, King Thelonius was standing outside his eldest son's bedroom door, waiting for entry. It wasn't the first time that he had done this, but it was the first time that Thelonius actually expected entrance. He knocked loudly on the door, and immediately a panel was slid back in the door, a pair of black eyes looked through, and the panel was slid back closed. King Thelonius stepped back as the door creaked and swung into the dimly candle-lit room.

Latrios could be seen in a large armchair read one of the many books the King could see littered around the room as he entered.

"You've been reading a lot, my son," King Thelonius commented. He walked closer to the center of the room and calmly took note of the huge towers of book filling the room.

"It's good to see you too, father," Latrios said, standing up and grinning warmly. He walked forward to embrace his father, and then the King held him at arms length to examine him. While in the five years Xephos' and King Thelonius' appearances hadn't changed very much, Latrios now looked drastically different.

Before he had went into his room, Latrios was of normal height, with a healthy, rosy complexion, and golden eyes. Now, Latrios was thin. All skin and bones. He had waxy pale skin, and dark circles under the eyes that seemed sunken into his head, like a skull. His eyes had become darker and they had lost some of their luminosity. Thelonius wondered what Latrios could have done to become this way.

"You seem alarmed by my appearance, father," Latrios started before being interrupted by the King..

"Why did you send for me today? Or better yet, why did you call only me here, and not also your brother?" Thelonius inquired,"Or you could have at least opened your door to him once or twice!" The old King had a point. Everyday in the past 5 years, come rain or shine, you could always find Xephos sitting outside his brother's room from the times of one o'clock PM to two o'clock PM. He would spend the time alternatively begging his brother to come out, and telling him the goings on in the world. How they had lost communication with the settlers on Minecraftia, and the Enterprise had returned without them. Sadly no matter what Xephos said, Latrios never came out, never let Xephos in, and never answered his brother's pleading. Latrios seemed to have blocked Xephos from his heart.

Indeed, as the King mentioned Xephos, Latrios' face hardened and he turned away towards the book he had been reading. He couldn't afford to be soft on this old man for his plan to succeed. As the King walked to the window to look out, Latrios bent down to find the spell he needed. He found the spell and said it a few times in his head. Then he turned and faced King Thelonius' back, thrust a clawed hand at the old man, and muttered the spell.

Immediately, what looked like whit lightning shot from Latrios' fingertips towards the King. When the lighting touched Thelonius, he stiffened and fell backwards onto the floor, completely not moving except for his eyes. Those were glancing around the room frantically until they focused on Latrios' face. Thelonius could see that Latrios now seemed much more at ease in the room now that Thelonius was incapacitated.

"I think that it's about time that I take what is rightfully mine," Latrios explained to the King as he drew his knife from an inside sheathe. Now that the King couldn't do anything, he could talk freely,"You didn't give it to me willingly," so now I've had to use force."

Latrios stepped over to the old king and opened his coat. He then tightened his grip on the dagger, and drove his hard into the old man's chest. Thelonius' eyes widened suddenly in pain and shock before closing tiredly. Latrios pulled his dagger out and calmly wiped the blood off of it onto the inside of his coat. No blood escaped from the small deep puncture wound, the spell had frozen everything in place.

The dagger disappeared again underneath Latrios' coat, and a quiet smirk appeared on his face. He bent down next to his father's ear. "It's not personal. It's just business." Latrios said as he cast the counter spell to allow the King's limbs to be free again. He then dragged his father's still warm body to a tower of heavy books, which he pushed over onto the limply alive King.

As the King died, from mostly the enchanted blade, but also from the heavy tomes that crushed his ribs and prevented his breathing, King Thelonius only had time for one thought,"If there is a Lord who created this land or others, by whatever name he may be called, please protect Xephos. Keep him safe in no matter in what way, so that he won't suffer my fate as well." Then the King let out one final breath, and the darkness covered his eyes forever.

~(D)~

Latrios composed his face into one of alarm and rushed out of his bedroom to find guards by the room closest to his, the hospital wing. There, he literally ran into Xephos, who upon seeing his brother's expression ran to Latrios' room. Once Xephos had left the room, Latrios calmly dropped the act and quickly made several phone calls to the important politicians who owed him debts. "Hell, gentlemen. I'm afraid that the King is dead and the crown prince has blood on his hands," Latrios explained calmly,"I think that we're going to have to do something about that, my dear friends. Oh yes. It's time for me to cash in those debts you owe me."

As nobody but Latrios himself knew how the late king had died, Latrios had decided to pin the blame on the one person who could halt his quick rise to power: Xephos. So that is why when Latrios hung up the telephone, he called the guards and asked them to follow him to his room. There, they found Xephos kneeling next to his adopted father's corpse, having just stopped CPR after finding a deep puncture wound in Thelonius' chest.

Xephos had recognized the puncture as one from Latrios dagger. How could he not? From a young age, he had trained side by side with Latrios, and there was no way it couldn't be Latrios' dagger. It was uniquely in the shape of a cross. Nobody knew about this but Latrios, Xephos, and the late King. This is why Latrios knew he was safe to use his dagger, and why Xephos must be disposed of. If Xephos told anyone, they would believe the young prince and not Latrios. For some reason, people didn't seem to trust Latrios. The murderer stood in the doorway to his room with his arms crossed across his chest. He looked down at Xephos and thought about what he would have to do to keep this man silent.

And it didn't bother him in the slightest.

Xephos, as usual, seemed blissfully unaware of his surroundings, as he had not yet looked up from hi father's still warm body. The two guards that stood one on each side of Latrios shuffled uneasily at their posts. The one to Latrios' left coughed softly and Xephos looked up in alarm. His eyes immediately locked on the person in between the two burly men, and his expression flashed through surprise through anger and was quickly heading to fear. The spaceman jumped up and away from the body and ran into one of the towers of books which wobbled menacingly.

"Guards, arrest him!" Latrios cried, pointing a finger at Xephos,"He killed the King!" The guards, relieved to have something to do, started to go after Xephos and he finally realized what was going on.

He knew that it would be useless to struggle, but it wasn't in his nature not to try. If Xephos had his sword with him, he would've taken out the guards easily, but he hadn't planned on using it today and so it was still in his bedroom in the sheathe. So, the only thing that Xephos could do was adjust himself into a defensive stance before the brutish guards hit him.

The momentum of the huge men knocked the wiry framed Xephos back into the closed window. He took what might be his last glance at the dark noonday sky before jumping back into the fray. Xephos' fighting skills had improved so much since his first fight fifteen years ago that the two guards were unable to subdue him for a good time. Eventually, however, one of the guards caught the spaceman while his back was turned and hit Xephos, hard, in the back of the head with a thick leather bound book.

Xephos fell forward onto his hands and knees, and after a moment crumpled onto his face. Xephos knew he was slipping into unconsciousness from the darkness collecting at the edges of his vision. In the last few seconds before he succumbed to it, he blearily watched Latrios step over to his limp body, kneel down and whisper,"This kingdom is mine now. The entire planet. And there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me. Where are your so-called friends now?" Then Latrios stood and said,"Take him to the dungeons!" Finally Xephos' eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he knew no more.


	8. Chapter 8

When Xephos awoke a few hours later, he had a splitting headache. He sat up from the low cot he had been laying on, swung his stiff legs over the edge, and put his aching head in his hands with a clinking of chains. Xephos felt more than a little guilty for the events of the day, but try as he might he couldn't devise any plan to get out of the dungeon with out outside help. So he, reluctantly, decided to examine his new home and see if there were any imperfections he could exploit.

His wrists had thick iron bands on them and were chained to the nearby wall of mossy stone. There was a door with iron bars across it that had an electric current going through it. There was also a small barred window high on the far wall through which could be seen the dark sky. It wasn't a real window, of course, it was simply a projection of the sky outside.

Xephos could only make out these faintest details because as far as he could tell, the only light source was his own glowing blue eyes. Other than those two pinpricks of light, it was pitch black in the cell. Xephos gave an involuntary shudder of fear. As with many Cardonians, Xephos had a a serious phobia of the dark. This was mainly the fault of the planet they lived on, Cardon.

~(D)~

The planet itself wasn't actually very large. About the size of the Moon that orbits the Earth, and almost as barren. The star near Cardon had gone out centuries before the first humanoid creatures evolved. Since everything had evolved in complete darkness, many of the lifeforms on the planet had evolved bioluminescant cells.

The plants were cactus-like in structure, and on the tip of each branch there was a small glowing silver orb. Since there were thousands of the plants dotted across the planet's hot desert landscape. (Heated by Cardon's molten core. It never dropped below 20 degrees Celsius there.) If you looked down to the planet from its orbit, you could only barely tell it apart from the billions of stars surrounding it.

None of this sounds very menacing, or gives any reason for why the intelligent population of this planet to be terrified of the dark. Sadly though, Cardonions weren't the only sentient beings on Cardon.

There were dark beasts with bright red glowing eyes and claws like sharpedned steel the roamed the dark wilderness of Cardon. They had evolved before the people, and they didn't take kindly to people walking about like they owned the place. The beasts tended to react angrily, and often fatally to the Cardonians. Tales of the, filled the legends and nightmares of Cardonians for generations.

The Cardonians themselves were and odd people. They looked and acted like the humans of our planet and Minecraftia, save a few small details. Cardonians tended to be taller and thinner than the peoples of other planets. When faced with a conflict between peoples they tended to try diplomacy before violence, but if you got on the bad side of one by endangering them or hurting their friends, watch out, They have a very strong sense of right and wrong, and if it came down to it, they would fight for what they believed to be right with every fiber of their being. And they could be as stubborn as a mule and could hold a grudge like nobody's business. Even after everyone else had gotten over something, a Cardonian would not give up even if it was life or death.

Then, of course, there were their eyes. They were large, luminous, and ranged in colors from deep purple, bright green, silvery gray, golden yellow, and sapphire blue. The luminosity of their eyes was tied directly to their health and emotions. For instance, unhealthiness, sadness, and sometimes fear lowers the glowing, but if they got angry, alarmed, or excited the glowing can get so bright as to be blinding.

~(D)~

For instance, Xephos' eyes were glowing the dimmest that they had ever been, due mostly to the fact that he had never been more miserable in his life. He had been forced into the wrongful imprisonment for the crime of killing the only man he had ever been able to kill a father, a crime which had actually been committed by the brother who had imprisoned him. Xephos didn't miss the irony in that.

He couldn't do anything about his situation, and since it appeared that Latrios wanted him to die and rot in jail, Xephos decided to write down the events that happened to him in a journal so that later people could read what had happened to him. Lucky for him, the guards that had helped to capture him were new, and when Latrios hadn't specifically told them to confiscate his things, they hadn't thought of it.

He took inventory of everything he had with him as well as he could with his hands chained to the wall. Xephos managed to awkwardly turn around so that he was sitting facing the wall with his hands crossed in front of him. He shrugged his jacket off of his shoulders onto the floor. When it lay flat, Xephos could clearly see the bulges in the coat where he had hidden items. He riffled through them and found his small spiral bound notebook, a pencil, a couple of coins, and a small glass jar of honey. He loved the stuff and never went anywhere without a jar of it.

He took the notebook and pencil and wrote. He wrote down everything he could remember, several pages a day. Like this, Xephos passed the time in the dungeon for many years. It steadily got worse there. Latrios had taken to having him beaten often, and sometimes he watched. Xephos was sadly soon joined by more poor souls who had somehow either upset the new King, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Xephos dreamed of the day when he could get out of there and be free...


	9. Chapter 9

"Three years, four months and seventeen days. I'm amazed I've survived this long. During the day, I'm beaten and starved, but at night I'm mostly left alone. I think the night guard may like me, as she's slipped me extra food before, and doesn't seem to mind if I write so long as I keep the scratching quiet. She doesn't even beat me if i whimper like the others do.

Sometimes Latrios watches, but most of the time he's not here. I like it better when he is though, because they don't go so far. They know that if I die, he'll do horrible things to them instead.

At this point I don't even remember what I look like. It's been so long since I've seen a mirror, and I'm quite certain these scars and burns have disfigured me beyond belief. It's a miracle that the guard somehow manages to find me worthy of sympathy, because I've seen many people pass over someone like me in an instance.

Sometimes I hear screams from up above. Whatever Latrios is doing, he's either doing it really badly, or really well depending on your view point. They bring others down every now and again, poor men and women who the beat until they stop crying, and then beat them some more. They brought a young child down here, just the other day. She was twelve at the most, and crying, saying she only wanted bread. The head guards...they did things not worth talking about. The beating lasted at least five hours and by the time it was over the girl was good and dead. Latrios watched the entire time, a sick grin on his face.

The worst part isn't the screaming though, it's the singing. Every now and again the people seem to gather and sing to Latrios, praise him in hopes that he gives them food or drink. From what I can tell, very few are successful. I try not to think of why he is doing this, but in the end I always end up doing so out of some sick boredom. I always arrive at the same conclusion.

It's my fault. All of it. Had I not been found, had I not been allowed to live with the king, had he not used me to pass over Latrios none of it would have happened. I only wish that Rythian was here, he used to have some small amount of control over Latrios sometimes. At the very least Rythian could beat Latrios in a duel of magic, or something.

Anything is more than what I can do at least."

His writing was interrupted suddenly by the approach of a guard. It was the night guard again, and she slipped his food under his door with a sigh. He supposed she was pretty enough, tall with slightly blondish hair, and in another life he would've flirted.

That, however, was made impossible by the gag kept in his mouth whenever he wasn't being tortured, to keep him from begging for mercy. The guard continued looking for a second before and expression as if she had made up her mind about something crossed her face and she swallowed nervously. "Ok...I don't know for sure, but I think we can help you."

Xephos must have looked confused, because she went on quickly,"I-I'm not sure but...you were a prince once, and a friend to the people as well, and I uh..."

Xephos shook his head and motioned at the chains on his wrists and the gag in his mouth. This made the guard sigh and enter the cell, saying loudly,"Alright then...I suppose you'll be needing a beating after all." He had to give her points for effort, it was rather convincing.

She walked over and whispered,"That girl was my sister. They beat her and showed me the recording. It almost looked like you were concerned. We are going to break you out as repayment to that...that bastard."

After a second, Xephos gave a nod. She unlocked one of the chains, saying loudly,"Alright...over by the wall. I don't wanna hear any whimpering you raggy bastard."

He must have looked confused, because she cut his gag and thrust her gun in his hand, yelling,"Oh god! He's too strong! Someone help!"

Two guards ran in, and Xephos pointed the gun at her face as she shuffled under one of his arms. He tried to avoid looking confused, and tried to avoid chocking her, but he got the sense he was failing at at least one of these tasks.

The guards glared. "Let her go prisoner. Now."

Xephos gave a groan, thinking,"This is when I die, then..." when he noticed one of the guards winking. He turned his head to the side when suddenly the guard to the left turned his gun and shot the other guard to the ground. "Hello sir, having a good day?"

Xephos simply let his jaw drop, and the other guard yelled out,"SHOTS FIRED! SHOTS FIRED! THE PRISONER IS LOOSE! EVERYONE TO LATRIOS! GUARD THE KING!"

The girl turned to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good luck prisoner...you've gotta run up those stairs with this gun, jump out a window, and take off running 'till you reach the shipyard. Once ou're there, find the ship named after my sister. The "Anitta." There'll be the last of the Captains waiting there to help you. Good luck."

He nodded and took off up the stairs. It would seem the palace was on high alert now, guards were everywhere, nothing wasn't blocked. "Damn it. How am I going to get ou- THE CATACOMBS!" he thought, and snuck his way as quickly as he could down to where the passage was. Farther and farther he descended in the ancient passageways that hadn't been used in a few hundred millenniums. No lights, other than the faint blue glow from eyes, were down there.

He walked for four hours, stumbling around in the darkness and tripping over loose skulls. He didn't really know his way around, he had never been down here before, just read about them in books and was curios enough to try and find out where they were. Finally he reached a small iron runged ladder that reached high into the air. Upon climbing to the top he was greeted by a blindingly bright light and a smell like burnt hair. He was in the poor district, he could tell just by a quick glance, and with another glance he could tell he was right outside of a brothel.

Not that he knew from experience, of course.

He climbed slowly, constantly checking behind himself as he walked towards a richer part of town, getting glimpses of his brother's tyranny at all sides. Here a mother holding he starving child. There a man missing both arms and a leg. Over towards the left, where a small fire had been lit, several veterans stood, trying to warm themselves.

Finally he reached a place where the houses grew larger, but he wasn't rewarded with the happy sights he was expecting. Instead it was almost worse, with horrid black flags over every house, large graveyards that once hadn't even been thought of, and the stench of death wavered from every corner. It would seem his brother was being worse to the rich than the poor.

A man ran from a house suddenly, armed with a sword, clad in nothing but his pants. Xephos felled him with a hit to the head before the man injured himself or someone else and walked into the man's house, and wasn't surprised to find it in horrible condition. The floor was unkempt and unswept, the fireplace barren, and the walls covered in blood and gunk. This man was clearly making the "best" of a bad situation, resorting to murder to earn his keep.

Xephos walked towards a chest in the corner and opened it with a grunt. "Let's see what you have-"

Suddenly a gun cocked behind him. "Step forwards. I want you against the chest and I want those cloths off."

Xephos chuckled nervously,"I know I'm handsome but REALLY now."

The voice growled."Be a smart ass. It'll only get you killed faster. Now strip. If you have any weapons on you, any at all, gods have mercy boy because you'll bleed out screaming for it."

He chuckled again."Good thing I left my nifty death ray at home today then."

"Warning two. Drop. Your. Clothes."

Xephos sighed and did as he was told, shivering in the coldas he was inspected by whoever was behind him."No weapons...no technology to spy on us...Hm...you could have left your drawers on boy, but aside from that...turn. WAIT! No, put them back on first! Ok, goo. NOW turn."

He turned, and was greeted by an old woman holding a high power rifle."Y-you're kinda old to be yelling and pointing guns at people, aren't you?"

"You're kinda royal to be standing butt-naked in a killer's home aren't you?"

"You recognize me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I called you that because of your scepter. Of course I recognized you, you idiot! Now put your pants back on."

After getting dressed, he followed to the kitchen and sat across from her."John's a lunatic, but he means well. He only wants to protect me."

"John being the man with the sword out there?"

"Good job, you have some level of intelligence. Now can you explain why the hell you're here instead of on the ship?"

"I'm supposed to be on the ship?"

"The entire damn rebellion was kinda hoping you would be yeah!"

"The doors were blocked! I had to get out another way!"

She sighed. "Damn. Well at least we found you instead of him, so there's that. And I mean really, you're out, you're in one piece...could be much worse."

She fixed him a quick meal, giving him updates while she did so. Basically speaking, it was somehow worse than he'd been expecting. More people were dead, more people were sick, and Latrios now had no less than five wives. Xephos was appalled at what his country had devolved to. "And the people just take it?"

"Those who don't find themselves dead rather quickly."

"Aside from you guys?"

"We just get lucky. Honestly the ones aboard that ship represent a far larger number than-"

There was an earth-shattering, mind-numbing boom, and they both hit the floor. Outside the entire sky turned red, and the streets shook as more much smaller booms took their place. The old woman was deathly pale. "X-xephos, stay here... I'm going to the docks..."

"You don't think..." he stopped at the sight of several royal bombers flying overhead.

The old woman teared up and nodded. "I'm guessing our numbers just dropped by quite a bit. I-I'll be back."

Xephos simply sat there in a stranger's kitchen, feeling numb. His brother had just ordered the deaths of an entire shipload of people. A shipload of people who were on said ship to help him! He knew that, technically speaking, he shouldn't feel guilty, they had known what could, and probably would, happen to them. Yet he also knew that, literally speaking he felt more guilty than he ever had before.


	10. Chapter 10

While waiting for the old woman to return, Xephos paced the small kitchen, trying to think of any way to help these people and fix the problem he had made. His rational side kept bugging him saying,"You can't stay here. If Latrios knew that there was a ship full of refugees, he could easily know where you are right now!You have to get the hell out of there!"

Xephos reluctantly stopped his nervous pacing and sighed dejectedly. He knew that he would need some way of contacting the old woman so he quickly searched the small house until he found a walkie-talkie. He would just have to hope that if the old woman even had one, it was on, and was set to the same frequency. That was a lot of "if"'s, but he had really run out of other options. So he slowly pushed the button on the side, held it up to his mouth, and said softly,"Hello, friend?"

"Xephos?!" the old woman shouted so loudly that the spaceman dropped the walkie-talkie in shock. He scrambled to pick it up, and all the while the old woman was shouting at him. "Why on Cardon did you you do that, boy?! Any of the guards could have heard that!"

The brunette finally succeeded in picking up the device, and he quickly started to defend himself. "I couldn't help it! I can't stand just sitting here, not knowing what's going on," he protested at a whisper,"You could have been dead, or captured, or-or worse, I don't know! I couldn't stand it if more people died on my account."

He quickly explained that if Latrios knew about the ship of refugees, he could very well know that Xephos was hiding in an old woman's kitchen.

"I can't stay here," he finished, lamely,"And it soon won't be safe anywhere in the city."

"You think we don't realize that?" Xephos grinned. He was beginning to like this woman. "First things first. We need to get you out of there."

"How can I without getting seen? Do you have passageways?"

"Bingo. If you go out of the kitchen into the pantry you'll see a wooden box in the corner."

The spaceman leapt into action and walked into the small pantry, banging his head on the doorway in his haste. As he rubbed it to try to relieve the pain, he quickly ducked under the door frame and continued ducking to avoid banging it on the low ceiling. The room was earthen, with shelves stone. It looked like it had simply been carved out of the mountains backing the house.

The pantry was even more bloodied than the rest of the house, and he tried not to look at what was stacked in neat piles on the shelves. He didn't need to try too hard to not see it, because it was dark in the pantry, lit only by the faint blue of his eyes. As he looked around he saw a small burnt out bulb hanging from a wire from the ceiling. Other than his eyes, there was absolutely no shuddered at the thought of what might be hidden in the shadows of the room. He crept into the room where he spied the box in the corner, just as the old woman had said.

"Okay, I found the box." Xephos crouched down next to it.

"What you need to do is put the password in," She whispered. He could hear that she was approaching somewhere with a lot of people.

"I was never told a password. Or how to put it into a freaking box, for that matter"

Xephos heard an exasperated sigh on the other end. It did actually sound like a huge burst of static, but he assumed that it was a sigh. When the woman next spoke, he could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "Did those guards tell you nothing, boy? Don't answer that. Fine I'll explain."

He put the walkie-talkie down, prepared to follow the instructions as she gave them. "It is a relatively simple system, it's based completely on voice patterns. You just have to say your name into the top of the box."

He moved the walkie-talkie off of the top of the box. "Xephos." This made the box slide back into some unknown cavity and reveal a small tunnel lit, thankfully, with ordinary torches. After the darkness e had been facing, these lights meant protection. The weren't like the harsh fluorescent lights of the prison and torture chambers, they were more warm and welcoming. Almost like a home. He couldn't remember the last time he had called anyplace "home," and he liked the warm little lights.

The tunnel was low and earthen, more like the burrow of a rabbit than anything man-made. He could see entrances from a few other houses as he crept along. The few that he looked up also had inconspicuous looking boxes on them. Maybel, the old woman, told him to follow the signs to the shipyard. People would meet him at the exit to help him. They would look like guards.

"How will I be able to tell them apart from actual guards then?!"

"They'll be wearing badges. Blue ones with white stars on them." There was a sound of muffled swearing from the other end of the walkie-talkie. "I have to go now. Hope you can manage on your own!"

There was a click of Maybel hanging up the walkie-talkie. It sounded very final, that click.

The spaceman swallowed nervously and clipped his walkie-talkie onto his pants. "Well, looks like I'm on my own now." Xephos continued on down the tunnel. After trekking down it for an hour or so, he finally came to a hatch labeled with a boat. The starships didn't look like boats, of course, but he knew what it meant. He started to climb out of the tunnel, but as an after tough he turned back and pulled one of the torches off of the wall. He was going to take a bit of light with him.

Xephos then crept to the box, said his name to it, and watched as it tilted back like a hatch. He then poked his head through the hole and glanced around to make sure that the coast was clear. Then he clambered out of the tunnel, torch in hand.

"Don't. Move." Xephos froze. He hoped that he wouldn't have the same reception here as he had to Maybel's house. He slowly raised his hands to show that he was unarmed.

"Turn. Keep your hands up." Xephos did as he was told and turned to see a pair of gold and a pair of silver eyes staring out of the darkness. They emerged from to reveal that the silver eyes belonged to a short young woman with cropped ginger hair, and that the gold eyes belonged to an older man with darker skin and white hair tied back in a bun. Xephos could tell by their looks of amazement that they recognized him. Both of their hats bore blue pins with white stars.

"So Maybel wasn't lying then! She really found the crown prince!" the woman said in amazement. "Are you really Prince Xephos?"

"Yes?" he said, hesitantly.

"Then come with us. We've been instructed to take you to your escape craft. Until recently, that was the CSS Anitta, but now, obviously, we've had to change plans. Now we're going to the CSS Enterprise."


	11. Chapter 11

Xephos followed the man, Grom, and the woman, Tessa, to the starship docks. He couldn't help but gape at the sheer amount of destruction.

Where there used to be about twenty starships of various sizes and colours, there was now only a pile of flaming wrecks, and he could only see one ship remaining. It was one of the ships that used to be used to transport colonists to new planets. Xephos recognized it as the ship that Rythian had left on, the Enterprise. The brunette supposed that the only reason it had survived the mass extinction of its kind was because it was both relatively small, and because it was parked under a small outcropping of rock. "What the bleeding hell happened here?' he asked, but he was afraid he already knew the answer.

"Royal bombers. Or didn't you hear the explosion?" The darker man answered gruffly. It had been the first time he had spoken.

"I head, I just hoped it wouldn't be the answer."

When they passed by the blackened remains of one of the ships, Xephos heard a sob from behind him. It was the girl, and she had silent tears running down her face. Grom seemed to try to keep a straight face, but the wetness at his eyes told a different story. Amongst the final smolders on the hull of the ship, Xephos could see the name: Annita. They stopped next to it.

"Were there any survivors?"

"None. The flames spread too quickly for us to help anyone who survived the initial explosion." Grom replied sadly, wiping his eyes and turning his back on the wreck. "Come on. There's no use waiting here to get shot."

Grom continued walking, but Xephos stayed behind with Tessa.

"Me mum was on the ship. Along with my younger brother." She was crying uncontrollably now. "He was only twelve, and those bastards killed him!" She rounded on Xephos now, and he involuntarily took a step back. "When you leave on that ship, I'm glad I'm coming with you. There's nothing left here for me."

"Okay?' Xephos felt really awkward now. "Umm...we do need to leave though." She nodded and allowed him to pull her away from the smoldering remains of the Annita. They walked across the rest of the shipyard until they reached the Enterprise. Tessa led the way to an elevator that rose into the rounded gray hull of the ship. She took out a small plastic card and slid it into a slot next to the door. The door to the elevator slid open with a hiss and Tessa retrieved her card and stepped in. Xephos followed and the doors slid shut behind them.

Tessa turned to him. "When the door open, you'll probably want to go to your cabin and change your clothes, Just ask the computer for directions to the first officer's room."

Xephos looked down at clothes as if just remembering that they were in tatters. "Oh, yeah. Thanks friend. I think I remember where the cabin was." The elevator dinged the doors slid open, and Xephos stepped out.

Tessa suddenly reached out and grabbed Xephos' arm to stop him. "Wait! I just remembered! We were searching through the archives to try to find out which captains were still...alive…,and we found a man who looked almost identical to you!"

"What?! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?!"

"I told you I forgot! I've got a lot on my mind! Anyway, his name was William Riker, but that was all I had time to find out because then the bombs started dropping here."

"Were the archives just general ship archives?" Xephos was getting excited now. Could this man be a relative of his?

"Well yeah, but what does that matter? The ship they were in was destroyed!"

"I know that, but general ship archives can be accessed from any ship in the fleet! I've got to go!" He sprinted off down the hallway into his cabin. It was about the size of an ordinary hotel room with a bedroom through a door to the left. Facing the wall next to the entrance to the room there was a desk with a large touch screen tablet set into the top. On the far wall there was a large strip of mirrored windows that looked outside of the ship.

As Xephos stepped into the room the door slid shut behind him and the lights came on automatically. He crossed to the desk and booted up the computer. The tablet took the place of the keyboard, but the images were automatically projected onto the wall from a projector in the ceiling.

Xephos opened the archives on his computer and typed the name "William Riker' into the search bar, and what came up astounded him. In the archive there were no less than ten pages on this man. Then Xephos noticed the picture on the side.

It was captioned "Commander William T Riker" and Xephos could see immediately why Tessa could see the resemblance between the two of them. They were both tall with blue eyes, dark brown hair that kept flopping in front of their face, and a strange endearing quality to them both. In fact, Xephos would've been identical to this man if it weren't for the fact that Riker looked so much older than Xephos. Riker's eye's were also a pale, almost silver blue as opposed to Xephos' sapphire.

As Xephos read he noticed that Riker was married, had a son, and then had died in a starship crash soon after. Riker's wife looked kind, and had the same sort of smile as her husband, a sort of I'm-going-to-fight-for-my-beliefs-no-matter-what-the-cost-but-for-now-would-you-like-

some-cookies kind of smile. Xephos grinned at this and continued to read the article.

Riker had passed through the academy more quickly than anyone before him but he treated everyone he knew with the same courtesy. Xephos had a sudden insight, was this what everyone had been referring to when they said he was like Will?

Xephos soon finished the article on Riker and decided to change his clothes into his uniform before he got completely sidetracked. His uniform was a pair of black pants and shoes with a burgundy long sleeved shirt. The top half of the shirt was black cloth matching the pants. On his right collar there were three small golden buttons, each about the size of the head of a thumbtack. Then there was the badge. The trademark of every starship officer. It was shaped like a gold arrowhead with a rounded point set on a silver oval. It acted as a way to contact other members of the fleet and also as a translator when on other planets.

After he was done undressing and redressing into his uniform Xephos returned to the archive to skim over the article again to see if there were any details he had missed. There were a few, one of which was that Riker had served as first officer on this ship, the Enterprise. Another, more sobering, note was that Riker and his wife had died a little over 25 years ago.

There was a picture of Riker and his wife holding their baby. The baby had tufts of feathery dark brown hair over his dark blue eyes. They looked wiser than their years, those eyes. As if they had seen everything. They were the kind of eyes that made you feel like they were looking at ALL of you. Like you were being X-Rayed. Under the picture there was the caption which had William T Riker, Deanna Troi (which he assumed was Riker's wife's name), and the baby boy's name Lewis Riker. Next to the baby's name there was a link to another archive page that Xephos could tap on. At this point, he completely wanted to know why he bore such a resemblance to a man he had never met before, and yet had so much in common with. So he tapped it. feeling that the outcome of what was on that archive would completely change his life forever.

He couldn't have been more right.

He found that out as soon as the first picture loaded. At first he couldn't believe what he was seeing, his brain just couldn't accept what his eyes were seeing.

"Look again," his brain commanded.

"We're looking! It's really there!" his eyes insisted.

He was reeling with the revelations that the one picture had given him. Xephos hadn't even read the title of the article, or the caption of the picture. He hadn't needed to. He had recognized the subject of it, recognized it probably better than anyone else in the universe. It was the same person who would greet him if he were to go wave at the mirror. Just to make finally definitely sure, Xephos checked the caption.

"Prince Xephos, a.k.a. Lewis Riker"


	12. Chapter 12

The news rattled him so completely, that the sensors in his room misinterpreted what they were receiving and sent a message to the med bay that Xephos was having heart attack. He wasn't actually, of course, so when a med team, Maybel, and Tessa arrived in his room in a state of high panic they found him sitting on his couch with his head in his hands, shaking as if it were freezing. Before they had arrived, Xephos had copied the pictures of himself, Riker, and Riker with his wife and son so that they could all be viewed simultaneously.

"What the hell is wrong with you, boy?!" Maybel had just sent the unneeded med team back to their duties after informing them of take off in fifteen minutes, and she was now yelling at Xephos. He could tell from her expression that Maybel was actually very relieved that he wasn't dying, but she seemed to take any emotion that might be perceived as "weak" and default to anger. Xephos could only point at the wall which still had the pictures on them.

"The pictures?" Tessa was taking it much better than Maybel. Instead of grumbling and glaring at Xephos like he had mortally offended her, she had crossed to the computer and she was examining the three pictures. As she looked between them Xephos could see understanding slowly light her face. Then amazement. "Holy shit...Um, Maybel? You should take a look at this," Tess called to the older woman as she waved her over. Maybel grumbled in reply and stomped over to Tessa.

"Holy god in heaven...Is that…? Are you...Are you really Riker's kid?!" Maybel blustered, turning on Xephos.

"I guess so? Is that a problem?"

"I don't think so, except...this ship! Finally!" She exclaimed before noticing Xephos' look of confusion. She rolled her eyes and explained in a voice that suggested she was speaking to a child who didn't quite understand. "This ship was Riker's life. He spent the best years of his life here. It's where he met your mother. The fleet loved him so much, that they gave this ship to him. And in his will,, Riker left it to his only son, but the son has never been found. Until now." Through this speech Maybel had been pacing Xephos' cabin, but now she stopped. Tessa looked completely lost, but Xephos thought he understood.

"The Enterprise belongs to me." Maybel nodded. They all sat there in silence for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Maybel jumped up,"Holy shit! I almost forgot that the starship is taking off in," she checked her watch,"Seven minutes now! I better get back to the bridge!" With that, she ran out of the room to the elevator.

After Maybel left, Xephos finally worked out what his name would be. "Xephos 'Lewis' Riker," he said to himself.

"What's that?" Tessa asked.

"Oh nothing, just my name. I've decided to tell people my name is Xephos, but I'll only tell my closest friends my full name.

"May I?"

"Um...sure! If you want."

"Yay! Thanks!" Tessa exclaimed "So, do you want to go to the bridge?" She asked,"I haven't been yet."

"I didn't want to ask you first, but I REALLY want to go see it," He replied, a sheepish grin on his face,"Shall we?" He stood and walked to the door, holding it open for her before following and shutting the door behind him.

They walked through the corridors to the elevator, or turbolift as they were called. Xephos was just thinking about how the hallway had seemed much shorter before, when they heard an announcement over the intercom. It was Maybel.

"Will Tessa and...Xephos? Tessa and Xephos please report to the bridge. We will be taking off in five minutes. Thank you." There was a hiss of static before all sound cut out, and then nothing. Tessa and Lewis continued into the turbolift, and Tessa pressed the button labeled "B."

Finally, after what felt like hours, the doors dinged and opened. Tessa stepped out first and dragged Lewis after her into the bridge. Lewis looked around and smiled. Finally some familiar sights.

The bridge was divided up into two levels. The top level was only about five feet across with a computer set into the back wall and on a table at the front. The lower level was much larger, and it had the majority of the people. In front of the top level there were three chairs, the captain's and one on either side. About ten feet in front of those three there were two more, four feet apart. These were for the two navigating lieutenants and they had computers they could pull in front of them. Across from the exit of the turbolift there was the captain's office. The wall facing the front of the ship was a window/computer. Window because it did show outside, and computer because it could also display the view from the back and sides of the ship and video transmissions from other ships.

"Holy shit," Tessa muttered. She seemed completely in awe of everything. Her speaking did make the crowd of people turn to look at Lewis and her. The vast majority merely glanced at Tessa before focusing on Lewis. With everyone's gaze on him, he felt like he was being examined under a microscope. Like every detail of his appearance was being scrutinized, from his hair hanging over his eyes to the lights glinting off his shoes.

"Hello friends?" Lewis said, waving slightly at them. His speaking broke the spell and everyone suddenly rushed forward and started chattering excitedly. He several of them, pretty surprising actually. There was the young guard from the prison who introduced herself as Amelia. There was a tall male guard, also from the prison, who said he was Grom's son, Bill. Lewis recognized one grizzled old man as Maybel's husband, John. He didn't seem understand why he was there and he kept shouting at people. Then, of course, there was Grom, Tessa, and Maybel.

Maybel kept trying to get everyone's attention, but they were all too busy making conversation. She eventually had to resort to standing on the captain's chair and bellowing at them. "EVERYBODY SHUT IT! We need to focus!" Throughout this she was getting down and steering different people to different jobs.

"We all need to realize what it is we are planning to do! We are going to steal a Galaxy class starship, pilot it with the most inept crew imaginable, and try to escape past the most paranoid and ruthless person in the world. Oh, and incase that wasn't enough, the ship is filled with a metric shit tonne of rebels, and possibly the most hunted person we could have chosen to break out! And, we are only going to get one chance at this, so we all need to not be distracted, because otherwise we're going to fuck up the only chance we have to get away from this hell hole!" Everyone in the room simply gawked at Maybel.

"We are going to be taking off in," she checked her watch,"blimey, well we're taking off in one minute now. These are your stations for the flight." Lewis blinked. He hadn't even noticed what Maybel had been doing during her rant. He looked around and saw that many other people shared similar expressions of surprise on their faces. Grom and John were on the second floor, which was where defense and attack was controlled. Bil and Amelia were in the lieutenant chairs examining the computers in front of them. Lewis was shocked to find that he was sitting in the captain's chair with Maybel to his right in the first officer's chair and tessa to his left in the adviser's chair.

"What the hell?! No! I'm the wrong person to be captain! It should be you," he whispered to Maybel,"I only ever got to be first officer!"

"And none of the rest of us know much of anything about starships," she retorted,"Besides, you were going to be our King. You should know how to lead."

"The thing is, I do know how to lead. But these people have already established you as the person in charge, and if I have to try to tell them what to do, well, it won't end well." he whispered.

"Fine! Fine. You're never going to let me hear the end of it otherwise, boy," Maybel muttered angrily at him. She glanced around to make sure that nobody was listening in, but they were all still examining the devices they were going to have to be using. "Okay, nobody is watching, get up and switch seats with me."

Lewis quickly obliged and he and Maybel switched seats without much incident. He felt more comfortable in the first officer's chair, it was where he had trained to be. From the touchscreen panels on the arms of the chair he could, hypothetically control the entire ship.

He took a deep breath to steady his racing heart. His eyes would be glowing brighter, he knew, but everybody else would think it was because of excitement. He tried to convince himself of that as well. What ever was going to happen next, none of them would ever forget it, and it would most certainly change everyone's lives.


	13. Chapter 13

Maybel checked her watch again, and then stood up. She cleared her throat and got everyone s attention. We will be taking off to escape from this damned planet in 30 seconds now. The reason why it must be timed perfectly is that at the moment of takeoff, some of our remaining allies will be dropping bombs on the castle. This will hopefully distract Latrios bombers long enough for us to get out of the atmosphere. If not, well, it was nice serving with you all. She wat back down. We will be flying to a planet that is, as far as we know, uninhabited. Amelia, open up recent destinations and select the one labeled Minecraftia .

Amelia nodded and tapped on the computer in front of her. While she found it, Lewis was busy thinking. He knew perfectly well that Latrios would be expecting to be attacked in the castle, so he would probably have a hidden bunker somewhere. So if the castle was attacked, in his position Latrios would immediately send his ships with gun turrets after their escaping ship.

He started to turn to tell Maybel, but then the bombs started dropping. Lewis could hear them from in the ship. Amelia turned to Maybel, Ready. She sounded excited, but also scared. Everyone s eyes were glowing a little brighter then normal, and tensions were running high. Maybel nodded, and spoke on word, the signal to begin, Engage.

There was a low rumble and the hue ship lifted slowly into the air. As they started to pick up speed, Lewis was listening all the while for the tell-tale sound of ships. Right before they exited the atmosphere, he heard them. A low buzz, that was getting louder by the second filled his ears. His heart leapt in his chest, and he silently willed the ship to go faster. His fingers clenched on the arms of the chair so hard that his knuckles went white.

Maybel had gotten up at this point and was talking to the two Lieutenants in hushed tones, and Grom and John were monitoring, or trying to monitor, the ship s sensors. So Lewis was left alone with Tessa.

She glanced over at him and did a double take. He was white as a sheet with both of his hands clutching his armrests. He was shuddering slightly, and his eyes were squeezed shut in what she could only assume was fear. What s up with you? She was honestly surprised that he looked scared because he should be used to flying starships. He was muttering softly to himself, For fuck s sake go faster! Holyshit, we re not going make it!

What are you on about?! Tessa was now getting freaked out as well, so her words came out a bit louder than she meant. Lewis jumped and stared at her in amazement. He wasn t the only on, Maybel had run over with an angry look on her face at the sound of Tessa s shout.

Lewis seemed a little reluctant to speak as he now said nothing, or rather he seemed more than a little flustered and he couldn t speak. Everytime he tried he stuttered and had to start over. Lewis could hear the buzzing of the ships clearly now, but everyone else seemed unaware of the danger and so they didn t seem to understand why he was freaking out.

Maybel was standing over Lewis looking like she was about to strangle him. What the hell is wrong now, boy? Lewis shook his head and sighed as he completely gave up on trying to talk. The buzzing was now so deafening to him at this point that he couldn t believe they couldn t hear it. He simply keyed in a command for the main screen to show the rear view and gestured to it.

As Maybel turned to the screen to see three battleships closing in on them, firing torpedoes, Lewis couldn t help but yelp and clutch his head with his hands in an attempt to shut out the noise. How is it so loud?! He didn t realize he had spoken until he saw Tessa s mouth moving in response, You can hear them?

Of course, he didn t hear her say that because at this point he could only barely focus on her mouth enough to read her lips. To everyone else the ships sounded like a dull buzz, like there was a fly wandering around their ears. To poor Lewis, however, it sounded as if he were surrounded by people using jackhammers on his skull. For some reason, the sound was vastly amplified, but only for him. This was causing, understandably, some focusing problems for the spaceman.

What he didn t know was how the problem had been caused. This was, quite simply, because he had been heavily sedated at the time. It had been during the first year of his imprisonment, and Latrios had wanted to have a little fun with his dear brother. So, one day while Xephos had been sleeping fitfully in his cell, Latrios and a pair of guards had snuck into his cell. Before Xephos had woken up, one of the guards had stuck a syringe filled with powerful sedatives into Xephos neck on Latrios order. The spaceman had tensed and then fallen limp like a ragdoll. He wouldn t wake up for at least twelve hours, but by then it would be too late.

Latrios had on of the guards pick up Xephos and follow after him to the hospital wing. There was a surgeon waiting patiently to put a small chip in the back of Xephos head. This chip would react to chemicals in the atmosphere that were only found on a certain level, and would cause him so much pain that he would hopefully turn back to face imprisonment rather than endure it. Of course, as with anything, there were some rather severe side effects. For instance, unconsciousness, effects to sanity and memory, and or death. The only downside, that Latrios could see, was that once Xephos left the atmosphere completely behind, the main effects of pain would cease. However, the side effects could worsen.

Latrios then had the guards carry the still unconscious Xephos to his cell. When Xephos awoke the next morning he had no memory that anything had happened to him. In fact you couldn t even tell that he had had surgery except for the aches that he felt now and then on the back of his head, like a bruise.

Right now, however, his head felt as if it were being ripped in half by to fighting demons. Up until this point he had been gritting his teeth to try to not let the pain show on his face, but now it was just too great to ignore. The enormous buzzing, that had undoubtedly been a side effect, had stopped, but the pain had continued on worse than ever.

Lewis could see that Tessa was sitting in front of him, desperately trying to communicate with him. She was crouching beside him shaking him by the shoulders, but Lewis didn t even notice her attempts. He had slid out of his chair by this point and was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head in shaking hands.

Lewis could tell that he would soon pass out from the pain. The darkness gathering at the edges of his vision was the biggest clue, but he couldn t do anything about it. Through his fingers Lewis blearily watched the view screen to see a little icon representing the ship rising through the different coloured layers of atmosphere. It was coming ever closer to the final ring, but he couldn t stay conscious long enough to see it enter space because just then the darkness rushed across his vision and he fell unconscious.  
> <p>


	14. Chapter 14

LALNA POV

When had it all stopped being a game?

Lalna rose, further into air that was already thick with cinders and dust. Corkscrew columns of ashy debris spiraled up from ground to sky, obscuring anything but the silhouettes of cracked buildings and plumes of raw fire. Larger pieces of falling rubbish peppered him like rain, and the background hum of his suit's filtration system had become a strained serenade, but it held, as he turned slowly - searching with narrowed eyes and on-alert sensors for the other shape hidden somewhere beneath the burning chaos.

_Where are you, you bastard?_

"No one left to hide behind," he muttered, holding out his hands out to either side, as if steadying his position on an invisible rope - with tiny shifts of machinery around one hand, and the flicker of agitated magic about the other. "Don't tell me you're scared now?"

He wasn't sure what sense it was that felt the shit, but he dodged anyway, ducking back as a bright-tailed shape suddenly screamed out of the clouds above him, passing so close that the rocket-end's heat scorched a narrow trail along his shoulder - and the missile went wide, vanishing back into the smog, and a moment later something detonated far below in a dulled-out bloom of angry red light.

How many of those things did he _have? _No way was he just carrying them around - he must have been caching weapons around the valley for weeks.

_Makes two of us._

He was dimly aware that the idea of untold explosives hidden around the smoking remains of their once-town should have made him uneasy, not curious - but it didn't really matter. The weight of his nanoblade hung easily at one hi[, the tweaked mining laser at the other, and he shifted against the small, carefully-crafted shape that was strapped across his shoulders, almost inconspicuous in its simplicity.

There was laughter in his ears, spilling down his lips, as he shot forward again, cutting through the ash and clouds like a blunted silver dart. This had been coming for a long time.

_Where are you Sjin?_

Stylised plate flashed above him, caught in a drift-opened moment of sunlight, and Lalna swirled to bring his laser up, tracking the half-hidden shape before igniting the clouds in a storm of crimson bolts. He couldn't tell if he had actually hit, but the next moment a narrow wave of conjured fire swept out - poorly aimed - roughly in his direction. It was easily avoided, but heat of it chased the smoke aside and he caught a brief glimpse of the thaumic-napalm pouring down over the charring shapes of the mushroom village below. Somewhere over his shoulder, something else blew up, followed by the sound of collapsing metal.

_Poor guys; losing all their stuff. _The thought was distantly-faint in his own mind as he scanned the sky again, seeking any flicker of movement. It wasn't like there was anyone else left around to be too worried about the destruction the valley had been steadily emptying since his desert weapons test weeks ago, and even the more stubborn residents had packed up quickly enough when the firing started. He had thought that his preparations for the inevitable had been at least a little subtle - even if the speed of today's escalation had taken him rather by surprise - but he couldn't really complain.

Better an empty town than - anything else.

_Because I'm pretty sure we'd be doing this anyway._

His lips twitched into a slightly erratic smile under his faceplate, as his attention caught on the massive brazier that had once been that daft chicken sculpture. Uncontrolled escalation of technological tension was definitely a good excuse to get rid of things, he had to admit.

A bit of a spring clean. With lasers.

Orientation was getting more difficult as the smog thickened, and Lalna dropped down further until the shape of the nearest building became more clear. The roof had fallen in, broken rail tracks sticking out across the open space like shattered ribs, and he alighted briefly on one heat-bent girder, peering into the ravaged interior. The sight of a smouldering arm sent a brief jolt down his spine, but a few hasty blinks later and it resolved into a clearly-empty set of green overalls, half-crushed beneath a chunk of fallen masonry. There was -

- a sound like a bow-string chorus, oddly harmonised, and Lalna ducked back against the intact wall, as a long arc of faintly-shimmering arrows stapled themselves into the brickwork above him.

"I can see you running, you son of a gun!" Sjin's voice echoed down from above, playfully-malicious as another set of archangel-rounds sought him out. Lalna hissed under his breath as a few of the half-corporeal arrows managed to find him, breaking against his armour with the stings of translation impact, and his hand twitched as he slid along the wall to the frame of a broken window. The feathery scrape of forming bolts prickled against his skin as the magic unwound, and he sent his own seeking volley skywards.

"Oh, for godsake," he muttered and kicked upwards again,following the course of the arrows, likely as ineffective against his opponent as they had been against himself. Sjin had quantum armour too, this time - which was a bit annoying.

They were pretty equally matched, in terms of active 'tech – and that idea rankled, clawing up against his own sensibilities like something gone feral. Lalna's lips thinned as he slowed again, peering through the smoke. The rivalry had been... fine, overall, and the competitive friendship that had preceded it all equally so, but this was trying to be different now. Everything else – thefts, ambush, general cheeky-sod games – they all ended the same way; in fire, falling and failures, and so would this.

_They_ had never been equal. That hadn't changed, before, and it wasn't going to now.

The air was clearer here, towards the further edge of town. He swung round in the cover of the low hillsides that flanked the valley, searching for any sign of the other hovering shape – but the figure that suddenly rose into view wasn't the one he was looking for. He wasn't entirely sure if he had been expecting this or not, but he knew who it was – who it could only be – even before

actual recognition could kick in.

Rythian.

_Why are you still here?_ It was a loaded thought, even in his head. The etharic buzz of his rings were suddenly uncomfortable against his fingers – intrusive, accusatory – and his jaw tightened.

How long had it been, anyway? Over a year since the... accident. Months since Rythian had shown up again – with no fanfare, no announcement, just a sudden gold-light glimmer of the again-active condensers, above what had for all intents been a tomb. Lalna had gone there, of course, indignant at the barely-cool timing of the intrusion – and found him, back.

It was impossible.

It was... interesting.

And then the brief moment of incredulous delight had broken away, as that drawn-out effigy of the man he had known screamed at him, his cracked voice harsh with disuse, spitting long-rehearsed words like bullets. But the worst thing – not the words, not the accusations, not the white-hot trails of humiliated rage that whipped across his own mind, not at all – were the eyes in that changed face; wild eyes that Lalna could barely meet, tinged with something so deeply else that it made his skin crawl. His own failure, wearing his once-friend's visage like a broken mask.

He wouldn't even tell him what had happened.

_And doesn't that bother you, Lalna? Doesn't that just burn you up, inside?_

Rythian wasn't even looking at him, turning slowly to stare up over the smoldering roof of the nearby tower. Even from there, Lalna could see the strange way the air was moving around the mage's hands, pulling the smoke into half-seen patterns, and his own fingers tightened as he sighted down the laser.

_It's a good excuse to get rid of things._ His earlier, half-jovial thought echoed back at him, twisting up around his mind in a way that was horrifying and seductive, all at once. But when everything had escalated this far already...

"Trying to protect your house, 'Rythian'?" he muttered, slightly surprised by the uneven edge in his voice. "Like that's gonna happen."

_You put yourself in the middle of this. Not me. Not this time._

He pulled the trigger.

RYTHIAN'S POV

_I hear fire._

The realization was slow to work its way into the front of Rythian's mind. Every spare scrap of his attention was so tightly focused on the task at hand, it was only when the acrid scent of smoke began to twitch at his nostrils that he finally paid it any heed. The long, low interior of his house usually bore a lingering, sulphurous odor as an inevitable alchemical consequence – and a previous proclivity towards lava-based decor – but it generally didn't smell or sound like it was actually _alight._

He tried to ignore it. There weren't many days that went by in which some scientific contrivance didn't blow up, ignite, melt, implode, or generally malfunction somewhere in the neighborhood. It wasn't his concern. Not… now, particularly. He renewed his attention, carefully twisting at the fine metal band between his fingers. It was still cushioned on a thin layer of etharically-charged air, and he sent a fresh trail of focus down into the gem at its centre, tracing another pathway in the embroidery of spellwork settled throughout the stone. This has to be just right; it needed to be –

The floor shuddered under his boots, and he bit down on a yelp as the spell-thread cut back, leaving a sharp line of rejected magical pain across his mind.

_What the hell is going on out there?_

He carefully set the half-completed ring down in its little obsidian crucible and stood back, feeling the invisible surface of the surrounding wards drain past his fingers. A long-held breath finally escaped as he let himself exhale again, and suddenly the acrid tang in the air was very clear, accompanied by a not-so-distant crackle of angry flames. It sounded like something had gone very wrong this time, and he sighed, rubbing at the faint tingles of pain in his temples that a sudden withdrawal from that close a thaumic focus would bring.

Sometimes, he half-wondered if scientific endeavors were set up to go wrong; a kind of in-built obsolescence to inspire devotees to greater heights of mad experimentation. It would explain a lot.

Why he did he put up with it? The oft-repeated thought took advantage of his distraction to niggle at him again as he ducked out of the main alchemical room, heading out into the twisting hallway that skirted the interior.

He could go anywhere, probably more easily than most – so why did he stay here? Surrounded by the cooling remnants of a life that was always a little unfamiliar, in a hundred ways that managed to stand out all the stronger in their insignificance. Aside from a proliferation of dust, spider's webs, and the colonising efforts of some sort of weird blue moss on the condenser apparatus, everything was exactly the same as when he had… left.

_Everything but me._

The burning smell was very clear when he reached the door, and he paused for a moment, tugging his mask a little more securely into place across his nose for whatever filter it would provide. Someone had really screwed up this time. He flickered his fingers, felt the flight-ring shiver against his skin, and stepped into the air as he slid out of the narrow door, turning in the air to see – to see – what –

…_holy god…_

Shock hit with hammer-force as the scene unfurled. His squat house was at the edge of the town – or, rather, where the town had been – but now it stood a little apart from a scene of utter devastation. Choking-thick pillars of smoke held up the sky, and his widening gaze tracked the ravenous dance of a dozen different infernos as they swung out towards any unburning structures, dragging firey fingers at bricks and failing pipework. Thermal winds swirled ash and sparks from side to side in scalding currents of scorched air, and he caught brief glimpses of recognizable shapes within the firestorm, visibly crumbling under the sudden furnace of it all.

He was barely aware of himself rising, trying not to breathe, as he stared with sudden desperation across the ravaged landscape. The forest was pretty much burned down – carbonized skeletons of recent trees now little more than angular sketches against the burning backdrop – and he caught a glimpse of the toppling shape of a huge mushroom, wilting and crumbling back into itself even as it fell. That sight spilled more specific horrors through his thoughts, and his stomach lurched.

…_did anyone get out? And how in the blinding hells did I miss this? Sure, he had been rather wrapped up in his work – for various reasons – but even so..._

He had a vague recent memory of someone hammering on his door, and an alto voice, raised in concern. Zoey, perhaps – the slightly-erratic redhead with the fungus obsession, and one of the few residents who didn't look quite so wary around him – but he had ignored it. Too busy. Too focused on… everything else.

How long ago? Had that been - ?

Distracted, gawking at the burning town, he couldn't even try to dodge as the first shower of brilliant crimson bolts seared out of the clouds. Agony exploded along his right arm, the shock spinning him in the air so most of the following shots went wide, skimming a few strips of lasered-pain down the rest of him. The next volley missed him by inches, taking chunks from the roof below, and he quickly sought what cover he could behind the gleaming shape of the powerflower. Faint trails of indrawn ambient magic rippled across his skin as he pressed himself to the golden surface, trying to catch breath through pain-clenched teeth.

Damn. Damn – damn – _damn!_ All he had on him was flight – everything else even vaguely combative was still inside. The scent of burnt skin was acrid in his nostrils, his heart beating a frantic rhythm against his ribs, as he tried to still the maddening whirl of thoughts.

They were using lasers. That didn't narrow it down much. His fingers tightened against the bright surface behind him, and a prickle of suspicion lit under his mind. The soft feel of collecting magic was… stronger, than usual, and he took a precious second to let his eyes slide closed, trying to get a grip on the particular sense of the etharics there.

It was fire. Fallout from fire magic – badly focused, true, but distinct enough. And they were using lasers. Science and magic, weirdly melded, and raining devastation in its wake.

_Oh no…_

This time he did manage to dodge, dropping down behind the dark walls as the deadly scarlet blasts fanned out, blowing pieces of brick the size of footballs out of the roof. He winced as the powerflower took the brunt of it, shattering into a rain of razor-edged amber, and the fizzing tin taste of escaping, half-realised magic hallucinated its way down his throat. He hesitated, pressed up against the wall and torn between fight and flight, with adrenaline and worse burning in his blood.

Everything else was inside, but at this rate there wasn't going to be much left to salvage. Sliding sideways, he risked peering around the side as, just for a moment, a gust of the spark-scattered wind dragged the air clear – and another round of laser-fire poured out of the sky, this time from behind the first, and the armoured shape swung round to meet it. Rythian threw himself aside just before the wall beside his face blew out from near-miss, peppering him with a thousand points of tiny shrapnel, and he swallowed a yell.

He shot back, away from the once-refuge of the crumbling wall. Closest cover was the wide trunk of one of the remaining enhanced trees that were scattered around the town's rough perimeter, and he darted towards it, expecting any moment to feel the searing bite of the laser again; nothing came, and canopy shade closed overhead.

_Wasn't it enough for you, Lalna?_ Bile curled its acrid grasp across the back of his throat and he swallowed hard, as he flattened himself back against the welcoming bulk of the huge tree. His fingers tightened, clutching at his arm just above the screaming burn, and he gritted his teeth as he squinted into the smogged-out sky.

_You want to be sure, this time?_

It wasn't just Lalna, though. That realization was as cold as the others, as he tracked the distant, grappling shapes. Both were mostly clad in the same grey plates, but the new arrival had lost his helmet. Rythian couldn't see much clearly from his position, but he did catch the flash of wicked grin, as Sjin raised his own laser and slammed the butt of the weapon into Lalna's throat, knocking him back.

He wanted to be surprised. There _was_ a faint edge of shock lingering at the side of his mind, but it was nothing to the seething rage that was clawing a blackened path up through his thoughts. His shrouded lips curled back, a strangled snarl boiling up his throat, and Rythian felt his own fingernails digging bloodily hard into his palms as he fought to stay on top of the fury. On top of _everything_, even as the echoes began to spill back.

_You bastards – you bastards – you fucking dare -_

The hovering melee above broke apart and Sjin tossed the empty laser aside, swinging his arm out towards Lalna. Magic bloomed around his fingers and Rythian's teeth ground together at the sight. There was a ringing in his ears and he tried to remember how to breathe.

_Balance; control it. I can't afford to -_

The first volley missed Lalna by inches, the half-real glimmer of archangel rounds sinking into the clouds in a translucent swirl. Sjin dropped down as the scientist fired back, his attack swallowed up by the flames creeping up the nearby mage-tower, and Sjin's turning gaze locked, just for an instant, with Rythian's own.

He saw the smile rise.

_Oh god -_


End file.
